As Harris’ 2024 agenda forms, she'll need a Democratic Congress to execute it

Democrats could pass major parts of Kamala Harris' agenda with narrow majorities. But Republicans are telegraphing that her new plans would be dead on arrival if their party is in charge.

CHICAGO — Kamala Harris is slowly unveiling a policy agenda for next year if she wins the presidency. The ensuing debate is highlighting an important dynamic: She’ll need Democrats to win control of both chambers of Congress for many of her biggest ambitions to have a fighting chance.

There is little in Harris' agenda that can be achieved by executive action — and any attempts would most likely get tied up in court. And Republicans are already telegraphing that if they control either the House or the Senate under a Harris presidency, her early plans would be dead on arrival.

“What we really need to do is to win the trifecta,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said at a recent fundraiser with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee. “Because if President Harris has to contend with MAGA crazies in the House or mischief makers in the Senate, it’s going to be a very different Harris presidency. We need to win the trifecta.”

That’s a tall order: Democrats have a 51-seat Senate majority, but the party is set to lose a seat in West Virginia, and Democratic senators are locked in difficult campaigns for re-election in two more Trump-friendly states, Montana and Ohio. In the House, Democrats need to net four seats to take control.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-agenda-2024-election-policy-plans-rcna166938

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